Swirlpool | Distant Echoes

After forming in 2017, and releasing an EP and two singles, this is the German shoegaze band’s debut LP. Mixed by Ride’s Mark Gardner, the album has a ’90s “classic” shoegaze feel to it, with all the trademarks of hushed vocals, whammy bar tone bending, reverb and distortion, but with the band’s new 21st century take as well as their other songwriting influences. All the tracks do have that lush tapestry of production on the whole album. The band has some cool videos to match their sound as well. The opening song, and album name, “Distant Echoes” has a deep, slow-moving distortion wave feel to it, setting the tone for the whole album to follow. “Reimagine” captures some of the Cocteau Twins “guitar shine” production, with an epic buildup sequence toward the end that sounds universal in scope. Seeing this band live in a huge venue would be ideal, as their sound is meant to be big and played loudly.

Swirlpool – Reimagine

“Reimagine” may be the best representation of the band’s sound overall. Lush, heavy, yet not distorted in a garage sense. The distortion and reverb mixed as one solid sound. “Breathing visions” is more a driving, faster-paced song with some phased, sonic tremolo breakdown toward the end, creating some psychedelic ear bliss. The pacing of the songs is directly related to the delay and reverb of the songs, the songwriting itself seems as if it’s influenced by the guitar pedal effects, their tones, and sonic frequencies baked into the songwriting itself. “Nostalgia” takes us back in the clouds with deep bass and sonic guitar sounds.

Swirlpool – Breathing Visions

“Caught Ina Dream” kicks off the second half of the album with a slow fade in, and less distortion on the guitars over warm tones, before being hit with a wall of water distortion. “Evergreen” is a slower track, with an almost acoustic vibe, minimal percussion (if any at all)? The music video for this song shows the band walking around a snow-covered mountain forest with an analog art video vibe. While it’s a single with a music video, this is a nice interlude on the album at this point in a “To Here Knows When” style deep in the mix production. “Aquamarine” does have a nice underwater production to it, despite much of that album having a nice washed sound to it overall, with soft vocals as well that pick up the pace toward the end, rhythm wise. After listening to the album, I would definitely go see them play live to hear how some of these sounds translate to the stage and the live ear of the audience.